New Super Mario Bros. Wii Review

Nintendo has been making Super Mario Bros. games for as long as they've been making game consoles, and after the mammoth success of New Super Mario Bros. on DS, it comes as no real surprise to see them continuing that tradition on the Wii. And while Nintendo have made it clear that the unique multiplayer aspects are the selling point of the game, when you sit down with this little gem the one thing that becomes abundantly clear is that no matter what Nintendo say, New Super Mario Bros. Wii is clearly designed as a single-player Super Mario Bros. experience with a few extremely fun multiplayer modes thrown in for good measure.

Anyone that's ever played a 2D Super Mario Bros. title should know what to expect from New Super Mario Bros. Wii. Sure there are a lot of new twists in the game, but at its core it's still very similar in style to many of the 8- and 16-bit Super Mario releases so beloved by video game fans across the globe. Nintendo didn't stray too far from the gameplay mechanics they created for the DS release, but what they did do is take that system and really liven it up with absolutely tons of classic Super Mario Bros. influences. You'll see not only touches of the three NES platformers, but also quite a few Super Mario World and Yoshi's Island influences as well. You'll also see a new emphasis on playing the game as a multiplayer experience, which gives the game a whole new gameplay feel.

The story mode in the game is very similar in execution to that of the portable release. The world map is very similar, albeit a little more animated and a bit more intricate in its design, and you'll find yourself navigating around it in no time. As a single-player experience you'll play as Mario, with the choice of using the Wii Remote held sideways or the Wii Remote/Nunchuk combination. While the analog stick works well enough, you'll find the d-pad a lot more reliable using the Wii Remote on its side for some of the game's more difficult platforming sections. Mario still has all his trademark moves including fireballs, the ground pound and spin jump, but there are a few new twists as well. The Ice Flower allows Mario to toss snowballs that freeze enemies for a short time, and there are also two brand new suits to locate including the Propeller Suit, which allows Mario to spin high up into the air, and the Penguin Suit that lets you walk on ice more easily, not to mention slide along on his belly. You'll quickly find that the power-ups in the game are not just for show and become extremely useful as the game's difficulty begins to ramp up, which happens quite quickly.

As if the power-ups weren't enough, the game also makes use of motion controls to further liven things up. Not only will you have to tilt the Remote in order to manipulate many of the game's unique moving platforms (and there are tons of automatically and manually moving platforms throughout the game), but you'll also have to shake the Remote in order to pick up objects and perform your spin jump. While these motion controls might seem a little gimmicky at times, they still add a nice layer of variety to the solid control scheme.

As you progress through the game, you'll occasionally have to fight an enemy in order to continue along the map's trails. These include everything from spiny fish to the good old Hammer Bros. On the world map you'll see everything from standard levels to haunted ghost houses and even the trademark fortresses to conquer. The standard levels will even occasionally feature a captured Toad that allows you to return to the level to rescue him by releasing him from a "?" block and then successfully carry him to the end of the level. Not only will it earn you additional lives, but it will also open up more Toad Houses where you can earn additional power-ups. You can make use of these power-ups before entering a level on the map screen by pressing , similar in style to Super Mario Bros. 3. Once you've beaten the main fortress in any World, you'll be able to save your game and move on to the next world where you'll endure your next set of new levels that range from deserts to snowscapes and everything in between.

As a multiplayer experience, New Super Mario Bros. is a wild ride. When you choose the multiplayer option in the main game, you and up to three other players can all take on each and every level of the game much the same way you would as a single-player experience. Having multiple players will make some things easier and some things more difficult. You'll have to learn to work together as a team if you're going to beat many of the levels in the game, as they all feature a barrage of enemies to take out — not to mention some absolutely pinpoint platforming. You can even use the other characters to help you reach difficult platforms by jumping off their head. The character in front will automatically scroll the level, but this won't kill characters that get left behind, at least not right away. Any character that is falling behind as the level scrolls along will simply be pushed along by the edge of the screen. Of course if a character gets caught in a wall or is pulled into an enemy, they'll be killed just as they would in an auto-scrolling level. You'll quickly find this a good incentive to keep up with the pace of the other players.

If you want to play something a little more competitive, you can choose to take on one of the game's two other multiplayer modes. Free-For-All is basically the same as the main game only you and up to three other players can choose to play any level that you've beaten in the main game. This can be a useful mode for gamers looking to jump right into the thick of things and play specific levels without having to play through the game's story mode. You can also choose to play the game's Coin Battle mode where you and up to three other players run through a level trying to collect the most coins. While these competitive multiplayer modes aren't quite as enjoyable as the multiplayer cooperative mode in the main game, they're a nice diversion for those who've had their fill of the story mode or would rather compete against other players instead of working together as a team.

Whether you choose to take on the game as a single player experience or make use of the game's unique multiplayer scheme, you're going to get your money's worth out of the game. The play control is rock solid and there's an almost never-ending amount of playability throughout the game's many levels. Long-time Super Mario Bros. fans should feel right at home from the very start, but even they are in for some new twists the game will toss your way. Heck, there's even a help system in place that will have Luigi play the level for you showing you the best way to beat any of the regular levels in the game. Couple the game's amazingly challenging level designs with a wide range of pattern-based bosses and you have one of the most solid and impressive gameplay systems available on the Wii console and a testament to just how viable and creative 2D gaming can still be when in the right developer's hands.

It's difficult to judge New Super Mario Bros. Wii in terms of presentation as it makes use of a fairly basic visual style that takes a somewhat "less is more" approach to the graphics in the game. Of course all of the trademark vibrant visual nuances are intact, and there's not a square inch of the game that you won't at least somewhat recognize from previous Super Mario Bros. releases, but don't expect the type of visual experience you're used to seeing in many of Nintendo's first-party Wii releases. Sure all of the silky smooth animations you see throughout the many characters and areas of the game are impressive by classic Super Mario standards, but there will be times when you'll wonder why Nintendo didn't try to do a bit more from a graphical standpoint. That being said, it's still easy to see what Nintendo was going for when they put the game together and if you're a fan of the DS release, you'll certainly appreciate the increased spice they've brought to this Wii version.

Super Mario Bros. titles have always been well-known for their catchy musical scores and instantly recognizable sound effects and New Super Mario Bros. Wii is certainly no exception. The musical score itself is one of the best yet for a Mario release and shows some real creativity when you hear them alongside the particular level they're featured in. There's also no shortage of variety between the various musical tracks and truth be told there's not a bad tune in the entire game. The game features not only tons of classic sound effects from past Super Mario titles, but also a whole host of new sounds to further liven up the playing experience. Even the voiced dialog, which is as sharp and brilliant as always, tends to add yet another layer of audio charm to the game and rounds out what is easily one of the best Wii musical performances to date.

Conclusion

Not only is New Super Mario Bros. Wii chock-full of classic Super Mario Bros. influences from start to finish, but it takes many of those ideas far beyond what they originally were in past releases. Not only is the game extremely challenging, but there's so much to do in each world that you'll find yourself coming back to the game time and time again in an effort to see all the game has to offer. The multiplayer modes make the game an experience anyone can get together and enjoy and adds an even more enjoyable layer to what is already a brilliant platforming experience. New Super Mario Bros. brings all of the classic fun from past Super Mario Bros. releases together in one amazing greatest hits-style gameplay experience and does so in a way that only Nintendo themselves can do. If you only buy one game for your Wii console for the rest of your life, make sure it's this one.

I'm slightly disappointed to learn about how the multiplayer modes work. I wanted to play through the story mode with others and compete for the most coins etc at the same time, 4 Swords style, with rankings after each level. It sounds as if you have to either play the story mode or choose individual levels on which to compete, and that's not at all the simultaneously co-op / competitive experience I'd envisioned . Oh well, I can't have everything.

I'll pick this up right away, and see how I feel about it after a few days + some multiplayer.

@fudgenuts: Why can Nintendo never please some people? If they had done something radically different in this game, then people would whine that it wasn't “traditional.” And then if they keep it in the vein of other releases while adding specific wii controls as well as a dedicated multi-player mode, people complain they played it safe. This game deserves every one of those 10 points.

...which will, unfortunately, have to wait until Christmas for me. After November 1, I'm banned from gift-potential purchases so I don't end up with two of the same thing... darn it anyhow! >.<

This is a due justified score I think. Let's face it. Yes, we've seen something like it done before, but if it was done well before and the new one doesn't make it worse, doesn't it warrent a score as high as this?

Please don't go by the gameplay trailers they've released. They basically shot video of many of the least exciting levels. I wish they'd let me pick the levels. I could put them together a trailer. One shot of World 8-7 and that would change people's minds in a hurry.

Spectacular review Corbie! I am extremely pleased to see how good of a game this turned out to be. I expected it to score high but a perfect ten is just incredible! It definitely sounds like game of the year material to me. I can't wait to pick this one up and play it for myself. Great job Nintendo!

Man i'm broke, spent my game money on nfs nitro earlier this month, it's fun n all but its no mario u guys need 2 throw a sweepstakes giving afew of these bad boys up. and let me be 1 of the winners 4 thinking of it wink

I just "finished" it about an hour ago and I can easily say its one of the best games on the Wii. If you took the DS version, added in the local multiplayer fun of Smash Bros, turned nostalgia upto 11, threw in some shinies and added the extra secrets of Super Mario World you'd be close to this.

Once you beat it (and I won't spoil it) you still want to go back to collect all the coins and unlock all the secrets. At the very least so you can spend your coins on super skills videos. For that alone I'd probably put it on par with Galaxy as one of the best games on the system.

editthe final boss battle is one of the most epic battles you have ever seen

For my part I was a little worried that the single player game would be a little sparse given the emphasis on multi-player this time. I'm glad to hear that this is not the case. Good old Nintendo, I should have known they would not let me down

a 10?! really?! Not that I disagree, because I havn't played it but I was thinking "oh well, Im sure I can wait untill I get it for christmas or something..Ill be fine". Now I have to go buy it the second it is released. Nintendo loves my wallet.

Sayeth Fudgenuts: I just wish they added something new other than multiplayer and new power-ups.

Umm...like WHAT, dude? I think you're basically asking that this isn't a classic-styled Super Mario Bros. game. It sounds to me like it has everything a Mario fan could ask for! I'm really excited for the game, which I plan to be playing within 10 hours.

I got through the game far too quickly. Yes, there are some challenging areas, but nothing a veteran Mario player couldn't handle. I have to say that the same music gets played too frequently throughout many levels also. As I finished the game, I had over 80 lives remaining... Still, after all that, it was a fun experience, and truly one of the best games on the Wii thus far. I really did love the nods to the past games. Ahhh... nostalgia. 9.1/10.

My only problem is the bloody bubbles you spawn back into after you die in multi-player. Pissed off siblings don't like popping bubbles much. And they always want to play with you. Ugh... I give this a 99/100

Looks great... Waiting for a price drop... I'm poor... Really, this isn't on my wish list because it's full price. On my wish list there are LOADS of great games that I have to catch up with. But I wish I got Mario Kart DS before it was too late! Oh well, I guess I'll have to check a regular game shop, not only the web... Or maybe even second hand! But I'll definitely wish for this for my birthday in April, though!

Sounds like this did for 2d platforming what Galaxy did for 3d platforming, as in: re-ignite the genre with clever design ad fresh ideas.(I know 2D plats are also thriving on WiiWare, but this is a big retail game)

Well, if Muramasa isn't waiting for me at GAME Friday, it looks like I just might blow all my credit on this, despite the ludicrous SRP. I cannot say I'm the biggest Mario fan, but it sounds like I won't need to bother with another 2D Mario game and it has that hand-holding aspect. I'm a bit surprised player 1 is restricted to playing as Mario though -- surely there's some kind of special unlockable to let you play as Luigi or a Toad?

I'm not surprised in the least its a ten reading the various previews and reviews of this game. Maybe now one or two on here can stop talking about nintendo fanboyism (tierd cliche) of the other reviewers w.r.t this game eh

@motang. Yes you can do a "Quick Save" at anytime on the overworld. It acts similar to the suspended save on the VC (as it saves at that spot, but you can only start from the spot once). However after castles, you are given the opportunity to save properly.

I don't like rating things at all myself so it's always a tough call. The review is fantastic, though, and paints a wonderful picture of all thats here for us to love including the things that some view as shortcomings. I think this could fit a 10. If I were reviewing it seems it'd be a 9 or 9.5, just because there are only a few things over time I'd ever give perfect scores to (Mario 64 - Link to the past - Chinatown Wars), but it's really hard to say so I don't fault anyone else for their take on it. I do think it's pretty silly, though, the way some sites/ people are bashing it for lack of online, when clearly this just isn't designed for that kind of play; it's intended for people in a room to interact and move along together. There is still a place for local multiplayer and sadly less common because of many designers being tech geeks who can't see the difference in excitement that real friends bring to local multiplayer. Anyone remember a little game called Goldeneye? local multiplayer was it's real strength, tell me the good times had there weren't about the interaction of friends in the room with you.

Picked up my copy today, and this review is spot-on...it's a 10/10 for sure. I just love the nostalgic feeling I get from this game, even down them using the Koopa Kids. I was playing it with my girlfriend, and we found multi-player to be a bit tedious (constantly bouncing off each other), so I may stick to single-player.

@suberban_senseiIs the single player any good? It seems that the media hypes it as a multiplayer game mainly. I'm not into multiplayer that much so I was just wondering if I'll like the game at all when I'm mainly a single player kind of guy?

It's better as a single-player game IMO - or rather, it's less frustrating. I played a couple of levels in world 2 and 3 with my dad, and it was chaotic to say the least. I can't imagine how terrible it would be with 4 players on some of the harder levels, especially since a few of them actually seem to be designed for 1 player (with some levels it's the other way around). Anyway, after completing the game I went back to those same levels and found them to be much easier alone. It's still challenging enough for me, though those who find SMW and SMB3 to be cakewalks - if any such people exist - may be disappointed =D

@CorbieGood. I love single player. I guess I won't be disappointed then. Also, Corbie, you're saying that when Galaxy 2 comes out that it will not be as good as this game? Because you did say that if I buy 1 Wii game for the rest of my life, it should be this one, which would mean that if I took that seriously, I couldn't buy Galaxy 2. Personally, I think I will like Galaxy 2 way more than this game.

After putting a couple hours in, I can say that I'm pleasantly surprised to find that the single-player game is indeed quite good throughout. I have to reiterate my disappointment with the multiplayer modes, however, as all that I wanted was to be able to play through the main "story" mode together with a friend or two and have the rankings show up after each level, for most coins and most enemies killed, taking into account least deaths, etc; ie. 4 Swords style.

Instead, playing multiplayer either means purely co-op with no rankings at all, or competing but only by picking levels from a select screen one by one, thereby breaking the continuity of the experience.

@BassXO: GAME has RRP at £44.99 and online price for £34.99, which means the in-store price is going to be the former. If I didn't have store credit to cover it there's no way I'd consider that price for any title unless it was a massive pinball/classic game collection.

Couldn't agree with this review more. Me and some friends just played through story mode for about three hours, and I'm not sure we ever stopped smiling. The single player is outstanding as well, in fact after playing the first 4 worlds, it's pretty clear that this is the best 2-D Super Mario game ever--and prior to this, I considered Super Mario World to be the greatest game of all time!

I can't imagine anybody not being totally satisfied with this game. It's another masterpiece from Nintendo--and the one game that I really feel works on both the hardcore and casual levels (as much as I hate to use those terms)

Because after a while playing the same a game a zillion times gets boring. Pushing the boundries and differenciating itself from every other game out there makes the experience far more memorable.

Not to mention it's tough to tell people to go out and spend $50 on a game that's pretty much the same as 10 other games they already have. Sure, die-hard fans won't mind, but without a major hook, non-fans may find it tough to consider making such an investment.

So it's not squashed or anything? No stretched hud? This is pretty much the only thing that has me worried about the game. If someone could post a spoiler-free photo of the game on an SD TV, that would be great. I'm rather anxious about this.

Actually, I just had a closer look at it on my TV to confirm how it's handling it, compared to widescreen screenshots. There are black bars at the top and bottom just like a widescreen DVD, but they aren't very big, and barely take away much of anything from your screen real estate. I believe they probably opted for a middle ratio on that; adding black bars to make it closer to the full widescreen ratio on your standard TV, but still leaving a little less of the stage visible at the edges (but the HUD is correctly positioned and so forth, nothing cut off in that way).

Frankly, I'm amazed Nintendo decided to build the game with widescreen TV's in mind. Just last year, they released Wario Land with its standard screen support, after all! But widescreen TV owners did get some awesome extra HUD's from the deal, so it worked out pretty well. My point is, Nintendo designing a Wii game specifically for widescreen (and therefore, HD, at least 99% of the time) TV's to the point where letterboxing would be at all necessary is a major step forward!

Yes it's really just like watching a widescreen film; I never buy "full screen" DVDs as they butcher the original footage, so I'm accustomed to small black bars. Believe me, it's nothing that takes away from the experience, it just means that you don't use every inch of your TV.

Just got the game, and it's a winner! I am absolutely LOVING the earlier stages! Even though they are easy if you just run through them, I appreciate the inventive hidden areas, and the challenge of finding all of the hidden coins. I'm stoked to visit some of the later areas, since Corbie says that they provide a lot more challenge which is just what I'm looking for.

10/10 - Whoo-Hoo!!! Great review Corbie; I'm glad they gave you this one... /10I already knew the score was gonna be 10/10 before I even clicked the link. I think Nintendo Life needs a special 11-Rank for certain exclusive Nintendo titles. For instance, Bowser's Inside story, which is a great game btw, also scored a 10 (for fairness, I believe it should have scored "9"), but I'd bet it pales in comparison to NSMB Wii and SMG2. For some titles go beyond even ten, deserving the elusive but as of yet incomprehensible 11 or 12 star rating, although doing so would totally ruin Nintendo Life's credibility. I mean come on, it's Nintendo! What'd you expect? It came from the BIG "N"; of course it's gonna be good. My only regret is that I can't use my RetroZone GC-NES adapter with this game. Sadly, since I let my mother buy the game, I won't get to play until December 25th. Yep, 28 years old and my mother still buys me games for Christmas; I'm just a big old retro boy

Every 10 you guys hand out to Nintendo takes away from your credibility as a reviewer. Great review? I strongly disagree. This should be a $35 DS title. Even then, review it, critique it, and give it a realistic rating.

I just found my 4th wii remote [i had lost it earlier in february] so this would tottally be worth it.Im probably gonna wait untill the price drop and my birthday in june. My DSi is getting all the attention this christmas, as is my tennis racquet.

@ODOGG618 If the reviewer thinks it deserves a 10, then they give it a 10. If you yourself don't like the game, it doesn't mean the reviewer isn't credible, it means you don't like the game. Corbie is a great reviewer, and pretty much everyone other than you said it was a good review.

Also, the reviewers could just not review anything and you could end up wasting money on bad games. Be thankful, its a good trait to have in life

@110, You're exactly right, part of the role of writing a review is not only encourage people to buy good games, but discourage people from buying bad games. But what's the point if the review is totally biased and perfect scores, which should be rare if even possible, are handed out frequently. I'm not saying that this isn't a good game, even worth buying. But come on, EVEN NINTENDO POWER GAVE IT A 9!!!! Let's be realistic. That's all.

I'm not sure how many 10s have been given out on this site, but this is the maybe the second I remember seeing in the past 6 months. I personally have yet to assign a 10 to a game, though I came close once.

Good man, Sean. You save that 10! I'm just old school that way I suppose. To me, there's always something that can be done better, and a good review will tell you what that is and how strongly it affects the overall package. Nintendo Power, for instance, brought up the "accidental spin" issue with the controls. Not a big deal, but worth mentioning as it can certainly be frustrating.

Wow, you're right! We should instead just pile all of the great games into one gigantic pile of 9's like many other sites do to make things easier for everyone to sort through. What were we thinking???

@Corbie lol that would make it SO much easier to tell good games from really good games! The good games are only 9s, but the really good games are AMAZING 9s @masterworld Yeah, it really is better to wait for the price drops or buy used. I waitied 3 weeks and got a 50 dollar game for 15 dollars used. 2 weeks later, it was 30, so I have no idea what was happening to the value. Some games like electroplankton start at 35 dollars, and are now a minimum of 60 on ebay :/

I picked the game up on Sunday about 10 minutes after GameStop opened and raced home to crack into it. Oh. My. Goodness. I knew i'd love this game no matter what, but yowza, is this game incredible. I've only begun to scratch the surface, but i'd already put it up alongside SMB3 and SMW as one of the best Mario games of all time, and it could surpass either or both; i'll see as my play time increases.

One thing not mentioned in the review regarding the music (didn't see if any comments mentioned this) -- the enemies bopping to the rythym! Hilarious and a very nice little touch.

@Corbie Yeah, yeah, yeah. The only one who'd have a gigantic pile of 9's is you, Corbie. But you'd have to lay of the 10's in order to collect a pile of 9's. If you don't want your reveiws to be critiqued, don't write them. This is what the site is for! Be tough, don't it so personally. I still like you.

Another argument that leads to the obvious conclusion: introduce .5 increments in the rating scale. It sounds to me like the reviewers have tough time deciding between a 9 and a 10, likewise an 8 or a 9. Imagine, a range twice as big as the existing one, WOW! The statistics nerds go wild!

No half-point scores please. I'm pretty sure the scoring policy does indicate that nothing is perfect and in this case "a genre defining game that we absolutely feel you should own" seems pretty fair, and I don't get the sense that Corbie had a hard time giving this game a 10.

@ODOGG618 I doubt Corbie would have that many 9s. He hardly even gives 8s it seems. Seeing as Corbie did write this review, I'll critique it. A fair unbiased review highlighting the games main features and distinguishing between good and bad aspects. I would rate this review a 10/10

@BenjyC Is you name benjamin? Cause Benjamin is an amazing name [my name is Benjamin too ]

@ODOGG618 There can always be something better about everything. Only God is perfect. Because nothing is perfect, sometimes you have to be content with what is given. Asking for more will never make you happier, and in this case, it's resulted in lots of people looking at you from a very different perspective. First impressions are important, and generally insulting a very good reviewer does not make a good impression.

WOW. Can't wait for this now. Gonna have to wait till xmas though as I've got a big backlog of games that I promised I'd finish before getting this. but............it's so hard to resist, damn Corbie and his 10's

I agree that the game deserves a 10 in this case, but I can also see the point that ODOGG618 is making and it doesn't seem that there's any valid reason for hostility against him. He's not being rude, so why does he deserve rudeness in return?

@imapterodactyl You're right, I probably could've worded things nicer, but ODOGG618 wasn't exactly nice either. I'm quoting him here talking to corbie. "The only one who'd have a gigantic pile of 9's is you, Corbie...If you don't want your reveiws to be critiqued, don't write them. ..the review is totally biased ...Great review? I strongly disagree...." Saying Corbie gave it an unrealistic rating, calling him totally biased, and saying it was a bad review is not exactly what I would call polite...

I apoligize for any hostility from me. Although, ODOGG618, it would be nice if you state your opinion without insulting anyone

got it today. im in world 2 and i have already made up my mind that it is a .....................................................................................................................................10!

Wow, looks like I missed out on "God talk", and some decent debate. As a general rule, it's never good to read your own reviews. As a better rule, it's best to leave religion out of a video game debate. I guess that would just take all the fun out of it now wouldn't it? I can just be glad that I have a strong back, unlike some people. Corbie, I think you've taken the "criticism" better than your fans. Hate me all you want, this site badly needs someone to play devil's advocate. I'm happy to oblige.

@deadly.by.design- you're treading on thin ice, clearly there are NO issues with the game at all.

I like how I bought this game as something my husband and I could play together... but co-operative play quickly turned to competative... and, well... let's just say I'm happy this game has a strong single-player element underneath all the multi-player hype.

guys, please take advantage of the 'edit' option beside your existing comments whenever you've just posted and have something else to add. there's been a sudden rash of double and triple-posting up in this thread. :3

" Hate me all you want, this site badly needs someone to play devil's advocate"You know what's annoying? When some random jumps into the scene and starts ranting to a perfectly happy community that their site requires fixing and that they have all the necessary tools to fix it. And whether you like it or not, regardless of whether or not it's actually beneficial or useful, it's gonna get fixed. Because you have the solution and you are awesome. I hope your nuts are feeling nice and large right now.I know this because I once was the same sort of person pulling the same sort of moves on a different forum. The result? After a few weeks of wondering why nobody was paying the slightest attention to my awesome suggestions, I got bored and left. The community continued to be happy and grow (and is still going strong, I believe) without my inane rambling that it was fundamentally flawed and would die in a big pit of its own failure.Take a mild hint, shove off.

I don't know wheather to get this or Murumasa Demon blade. Im guessing that this dosen't come with any multiplayer minigames like the one on DS?? They kept me and my friends going for ages on sleepovers.

@Raylax- Relax. Go look up "hypocrisy". If you can't take an opinion that doesn't match yours, then why don't YOU "shove off". If everyone agreed all the time, there would be no point to having comments. Everyone would take their soma and say "well done".

To be fair, you stated nothing about the actual game, except that it was a bargain bin DS title. You simply criticized the opinions of the reviewer. You do realize it's his personal opinion, and not something to govern your own by? Methinks you're taking it a little too seriously.

You then go on to state that "even Nintendo Power" gave it a 9." Okay, and your point? You wanted to be realistic, so let's be realistic. Both parties enjoyed the game, yet a minor flaw caused the reviewer at Nintendo Power to deduct a point from the score. Such was not the case for Corbie, who found an immersive experience that provided a great deal of fun, and rated it as he saw fit. As also stated, only 4 Wii games have achieved the highest score of 10 on NL. Hardly handing out 10's, that was just a lack of common sense, as well as checking the facts.

Furthermore, if you are in fact "old school that way" about review scores, you should remember well that review scores are based off personal opinion, as well as representation to a genre/franchise/console. BY giving it a 10, Corbie has simply stated he thoroughly enjoyed this game, and recommends it fervently to fans of Mario, fans of 2D platforming and platforming in general, and that it's a great buy for Wii owners.

Disagreeing with that is fine. The part where I get a problem with is that you try to "prove" this by comparing the score (which shouldn't be taken so seriously) to universal "fact." Such as comparing to NL's previous Wii scores (in which you clearly didn't bother to research and therefore were wrong) and comparing it to another score from a different person.

You then go on to tell Raylax that, and I quote: "If you can't take an opinion that doesn't match yours, then why don't YOU "shove off." When you yourself are guilty of that very thing in your first post regarding this game.

So, in conclusion, you didn't use common sense. You didn't research or even make an attempt to look up past scores of the Wii games in general OR that of the reviewer, then you go on to contradict yourself. A clear representation of the misinformed.

Moving on to the much more important and relevant topic at hand, this game deserves every point of the 10/10 score. Nostalgia, great level design, challenge, innovation, and just plain fun delivers in this title, one of the Wii's, and Nintendo's, best.

Its not really that hard. Getting all the coins, now thats hard. But just getting to the flagpole or beating each boss? I only ever saw the Luigi icon twice and only let him beat a level for me once (and even then its because it was the small hours in the morning and I was tired).

I think they should have added a "For Super Players" mode which removed the super guide, all mushroom houses, all the free lives that the game kept handing out like candy on Halloween, the ability to save and also the ability to go back to other worlds. Now that would be quite the challenge.

For the record, I still find the levels in the second half of Super Mario Bros. 3 to be challenging. My deaths in this game were mainly because I didn't know what was coming up in some of the more trap filled stages. Huh. Even world eight of the original Super Mario Bros. is harder than world 8 here. I'd also say the Koopa Kids were laughably easy to defeat but the Kamek and Bowser Jr. battles were quite fun.

I'd give NSMBWii a 9/10. Sure it may have more variety than Super Mario Bros. 3 and World but I can't help but feel there was some dumbing down. Its very easy to get many lives and items, nobody is ever going to see a game over here. If the DS game did not exist, I would probably give this 10/10. But since it did and I already played that a lot, it just felt like a remix of the DS game with some added Wii powered cool bits - although it featured some things that probably could not be done on the DS, the graphics, sound and presentation just felt like the DS game. Wario Land Wii felt more original, innovative and challenging. Yet it did not get the recogniton it deserved.

This a good game, most certainly, but it does not quite deserve a 10. A 9 would be fair, yet show that the game does have some faults; such as being too similar to previous mario games. Not that this is a bad thing, but it would have been nice to see more innovation beyond four-player multiplayer. While it was the right decision to keep multiplayer local, it could have used more unique characters, more modes, or even multiplayer-exclusive power ups. last but not least, a better implementation of Yoshi would have been nice. Not just by including him in more stages, but giving him a couple new tricks, such as absorbing powers, kirby style.

All in all, still a good game, and it's definitely on my wishlist this christmas.

@ODOGG I was curious, do you own this game? Or have you met Corbie and interviewed him to find out if this review is Biased? Apparently you have, because you seem to know so much that you can come to conclusions that make SO much sense. [I certainly hope you realise that was sarcasm] All you are doing is making a fool of yourself, just do yourself a favor and stop commenting on this game [unless you actually want to take the time to think about what your saying. The reason we think faster than we speak is so we can think twice before we speak.]I'm predicting that if you see this comment ODOGG, you are going to reply by saying "you are the only one who is making a fool of yourself] or something telling me that I should think before I speak, or anything trying to defend yourself and insult me. Let me tell you now, you have not been doing a good job of defending yourself, nor are you doing a good job of insulting other people in an actually insulting manner.

@ODOGG now, people [other than me] have told you that you are a know it all, and that you should shove off. None of this would be happening if you had just stated your opinion without insulting someone. Just say you don't like the game or you don't think it deserves a 10. There's no need to say it's a horrible and biased review, just say you disagree with it.

Great review, the game is definitely deserving of that ten. I finished it in a week with everything collected and it was definitely the best platforming I've experienced in a while. I've played a bit of the multi-player and it's definitely a blast, though, it can get a bit frustrating at times, especially with people stepping on you and causing you to fall to your death.

I'm thinking of doing another play-through so that I can unlock the medal for not having the Super Guide block show up--you'd be surprised just how many lives you can lose while trying to pick up that ONE frustratingly-placed coin...

I'm very interested in this game, but I was a bit disappointed that there seems to be no difference between the characters like in Super Mario Bros. 2 or Super Mario World. I kind of liked the idea that each character has their strengths and weakness. But that's just me.

I made up a character to be the 3rd player character in the next 4 player Mario instead of a second nameless toad. Look at my profile picture and you will see the character i made named Antonio. Look at the picture and read the bio of him and tell me wahat you think.

They shouldn't of kept the 8-bit sound effects of the yellow coins. I like them better than the 16-bit ones. EDIT: [July 1st 2010]Okay, maybe both. I wouldn't of preferred the 16-bit sounds in the first place but whatever.

I just got around to beating "everything" I have had the game part of it beat for awhile but now have got all the star coins ect. And got five shiny stars next to my pro file on the title screen for all my hard work. It really is a great game.